Putin signs decree offering citizenship to foreign fighters

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The Kremlin has issued a new decree saying that foreigners who sign contracts to serve in or alongside the Russian army will have the right to apply for Russian citizenship.

Russian state media outlet TASS reports that both fighters themselves and their relatives are covered by the decree, which was cleared by Vladimir Putin and published on Thursday.

Having lost an estimated 300,000-odd troops in Ukraine in less than two years, the Russian armed forces are increasingly turning to foreign joiners for reinforcements.

The Kremlin is keen to avoid anything resembling countrywide conscription as it maintains that the war is merely a “special military operation” and tries to mitigate any effects on everyday Russians’ standard of living.

However, while the Ukrainian counteroffensive this year essentially failed to change the calculus of the war, recent Ukrainian attacks on the Russian border region of Belgorod have raised the prospect that Russians might begin to feel blowback from what was originally intended to be a brief invasion but has turned into a two-year conflict.

So far, Russia has recruited heavily from former Soviet countries and the Caucasus, as well as domestic prisons, where state-aligned organisations like the Wagner mercenary group have been particularly proactive.

The military has also mobilised troops from the Ukrainian Oblasts of Donetsk and Luhansk, which Russia has claimed since it invaded them in 2014.

Along with the problem of troop numbers, Russia’s military has also faced major problems with battlefield discipline and cohesion. Friendly fire incidents, both intentional and accidental, are reportedly a serious issue, as is hard drug abuse among soldiers.